JESSICA FOX WAS THE HEADLINE ACT FOR AUSTRALIA ON DAY TWO IN PARIS
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AUSTRALIAN MEDALLISTS
Gold
* Jessica Fox (canoe slalom - women's K1) - After a hiccup in the semi-final, Fox blew the final wide open with a stunning run of 96.08 seconds. There were seven paddlers still to go down the course at that point, but none of them got close to the Aussie superstar.
OTHER HEADLINE GOLD MEDALLISTS
* French king of the pool Leon Marchand destroyed his opponents to win gold in the men's 400m individual medley.
* There was another hugely-popular host nation victory in the women's mountain biking, where Pauline Ferrand-Prevot grabbed a maiden Olympic gold to go with her five world titles.
* Skateboarders Coco Yoshizawa and Liz Akama filled the top two spots on the podium in the women's street event, helping Japan to top spot on the medals table, above Australia.
WHAT ELSE HAPPENED
* Precocious Australian teen skateboarder Chloe Covell's Olympic day in the sun will come. But it wasn't on Sunday as she finished last in the women's street final, unable to land any of her five tricks.
* The Matildas were pushed to the brink by Zambia, only for Michelle Heyman to spare their bluhes with a late winner in a bonkers 6-5 goalfest in Nice.
* Australian Chris Burton, on board Shadow Man, remains in the bronze medal position after the cross country section of the individual eventing competition.
* Australia's hopes of securing yet another medal in team eventing ended in unfortunate fashion when Kevin NcNab was forced to retire his injured mount Don Quidam.
WHO SAID WHAT
"She is awesome, she is our little cheat code out there." - Teagan Levi's description of her sister and rugby sevens teammate Maddison, who has scored seven tries in two games in Paris.
"It's a gut-wrenching sport, isn't it?" - Equestrian star Chris Burton after his eventing teammate Kevin McNab's mount suffered an injury. Happily, Don Quidam is expected to make a full recovery.
"We are protecting a convicted child rapist to do his sport as best as possible and for a tournament which he qualified for." - Dutch team official John van Vliet was left in the near-impossible position of explaining how beach volleyballer Steven van de Velde came to be competing in Paris. Van de Velde is not speaking to the media.
MEDALS TABLE (after day 2)
G S B Tot
1. Japan 4 2 1 7
2. Australia 4 2 0 6
3. United States 3 6 3 12
4. France 3 3 2 8
5. South Korea 3 2 1 6
6. China 3 1 2 6
GOLD MEDALS DECIDED ON DAY 2: 13
Australian Associated Press
